Chapter 7—The Renaissance

The Renaissance

The Renaissance can be divided into three smaller epochs:

•  The Early Renaissance 1400-1490

•  The High Renaissance 1490-1530

•  The Late Renaissance 1520-1550

Italian City-States during

the Renaissance and the three major cities:

Florence, Rome, and Venice

The State as a Work of Art: Florence and the Medici Florence and the Medici family are

totally linked in influence and creativity.

Having said that, Florence was at war with Milan and the Black Death. After the duke of Milan died, the Milan army withdrew leaving Florence free at last.

They decided to have a contest

for the baptistery doors. The two finalists were Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.

Ghiberti’s Sacrifice of Isaac

Brunelleschi’s Sacrifice of Isaac

Ghiberti’s Creation of Adam

Ghiberti’s Cain Killing Abel

Ghiberti’s East Doors Gates of Paradise

Ghiberti’s self-portrait on the East Doors

NB. The contest and what drove the artists and the rest of the Renaissance artists

was what they could accomplish in art.

The individual was important. That was the driving force of the period.

“Hey, look. I did this” was the attitude of the artists.

Brunelleschi’s Dome

A Moment of Renaissance Zen Brunelleschi’s strength lay in his

understanding of the past. It hurt him with the doors, but it worked for him with the dome. He mixed the Gothic and the classical Roman vaulting.

My grandmother always said when

teaching me to play bridge, “Allen, you always lead from your longest and strongest suit.”

Don’t you forget this moment

of Zen and my grandmother’s advice.

Brunelleschi, after his defeat in the door contest went to Rome. While there, he studied various

ancient Roman buildings.

Returning to Florence, he won the contest to finish the cathedral whose dome was

still not constructed.

The Renaissance, starting with Brunelleschi pushed for the old Greco-Roman perspective

in all art…an attempt to copy nature.

Masaccio’s frescos in the Brancacci Chapel

The Tribute Money

Masaccio Expulsion of Adam and

Eve… before and after cleaning

Perspective and naturalism were critical. However, atmospheric

perspective was also used.

Donatello’s David ca. 1430

Donatello’s David is the first, life-sized, male nude since Greco-Roman times, and it is an excellent example of contrapposto…the S-shaped curve.

However, why does David look that way?

It is a statement about Florence.

Lorenzo the Magnificent said that

“I find a relaxation in learning.”

As a result, he did much

to push education further by redoing the University

of Pisa, etc.

Botticelli Primavera ca. 1480

Botticelli Birth of Venus 1486

Della Robbia low-relief work

Renaissance Art •  Classical themes replace purely Christian ones

•  Space is present

•  Proportion in the buildings and people

•  Greco-Roman style

•  Pyramidal

•  S-shaped curve or contrapposto

•  Chiaroscuro or light and shadow

•  Nudes were back…just like the Greeks

Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the genius

of the Renaissance with a broadest knowledge-base of anyone. He invented things like parachutes before planes. He dreamed dreams that never

were and said why not.

Sfumato (depth due to ethereal background), pyramid, S-shaped curve, and chiaroscuro

“That painting is the most to be praised which

agrees most exactly with the thing imitated.”

Leonardo Mona Lisa 1503-5

N.B. Leonardo and most of the Italian Renaissance

painters used plein-air as the backdrop

to their paintings.

Leonardo Self-Portrait 1512

The Last Supper 1498

Lady with an Ermine

Leda and the Swan 1505-10

The Virgin and

Child with St. Anne and John the

Baptist

Leonardo's  Horse    

Tank

Helicopter

Embryo

1510

Return of Rome

The return to Rome for both the church and artisans

took time since it was in disrepair. Julius the II

commissioned two major projects: the Vatican Palace

and St. Peter’s Basilica. Julius II raised money for

St. Peter’s by selling indulgences…a type of pass to

heaven. It not only built St. Peter’s but also the

Protestant Reformation.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel between 1508-1512 after an argument between him and Julius II.

The Sistine Chapel has a 45x128 ft. ceiling.

Creation of Adam

Creation of Eve

Adam and Eve and expulsion from the Garden of Eden

The Flood

God

Holy Family 1504

The Madonna of the Stairs

1490-92

Drunken Bacchus 1497

Pieta ca. 1500

Pieta 1550

Comparison between Greek and the “Rebirth”

David 1504

Moses 1513-15

Tomb of Giuliano 1526-33

Night

Day

Tomb of Lorenzo

Dusk

Dawn

Awakening Prisoner 1525

Slaves

Victory

 High Renaissance •  1495-1520 (from around Columbus to the Reformation)

•  Rome was the epicenter of this period.

•  Main leaders were the Ninja Turtles trio: Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo.

•  The beginning of the 16th century found the Vatican the new Florence with the ascent of Pope Julius II (the awesome pope) in 1503.

•  Age of exploration

Titian Pope Paul III

and His Grandsons 1546

He had 4-illegitimate children:

2 boys and 2 girls.

Tintoretto The Last Supper 1592-94

Veronese Christ in the House of Levi 1573

Raphael La Belle Jardinière

1507

Raphael The School of Athens 1510-11

Raphael Pope Leo X 1518

Ghirlandaio A Man with His

Grandchild